By Staff

            LITTLE RIVER – The Little River girls took an early lead and never looked back on Tuesday as they played host to Moundridge and got a 52-32 victory.

            With the win, Little River is now 5-0 on the season and ranked number one in Class 1A Division I. the Lady Redskins will be on the road Friday at Wakefield.

            For the Lady Wildcats, they drop to 1-4 with their fourth loss in a row as they prep to get back in the winning column on Thursday when they host Kingman in the Heart of America-Central Plains League challenge.

            “Little River is long, athletic, and does a great job getting to the basket,” pointed out Moundridge head coach Kaleigh Huxman. “They are relentless on defense and apply tough pressure on the ball. I am really proud of the way my girls fought tonight.”

            Little River took an early 12-point, 16-5 lead by the end of the first quarter and had a 27-15 advantage going into the halftime break. The Lady Wildcats came out of the break with a bit more offense and whittled a few points off the deficit by only being down 35-26 going into the final quarter. The Lady Redskins took control in the final stanza and outscored Moundridge 17-6 to earn the final 20-point win.

            Leading the way for Little River was Alaina Eck and Aubrey Olander as they combined for 31 points with Eck scoring 17 and Olander getting 14. Aubrey recorded a double-double as she led the Lady Redskins in the paint with 10 rebounds while Eck just missed with her haul of eight rebounds. Eck also led the team in both assists with four and steals with four as well.

            For the Lady Wildcats, Addy Patrick reached double digits with 10 points and Kaelyn Wedel just missed as she chipped in with nine.

            Lady Wildcat coach Huxman finished out her post-game thoughts by saying, “I thought we attacked the basket better tonight and made it tough for them to get shots in the lane. In the third quarter we cut their lead to seven at on point but just could not make it over the hump. In our last four games we have made less than 25% of our shots. It is hard to get momentum going when we do that. We are getting good looks and playing tough defense, we just have to put the ball in the hole.”

MOUNDRIDGE LADY WILDCATS at LITTLE RIVER LADY REDSKINS

SCORING: LADY WILDCATS 5-10-11-6=32; LITTLE RIVER 16-11-8-17=52.

TEAM STATS: LADY WILDCATS > 2-FGs – 11/NA, 3-PTs – 2/NA, FT – 4/9, AST – NA, REBs – NA, TO – NA, STLs – NA, BLKs – NA, FLs – 15;  LITTLE RIVER > 2-FGs – 19/42, 3-PTs – 3/12, FT – 5/10, AST – 9, REBs – 34, TO – 16, STLs – 13, BLKs – 2, FLs – 11.

LADY WILDCAT INDIVIDUAL SCORING: Addy Patrick – 10; Kaelyn Wedel – 9, 1-three pointer; Macie Woltje – 5; Kindall Elmore – 3, 1 three-pointer; Emily Durst – 3; Macy Kaminkow – 2; Cammi Unruh – 1.

LITTLE RIVER INDIVIDUAL STAT LEADERS:

Scoring: Alaina Eck – 17; Aubrey Olander – 14; Ashley Stephenson – 9; Havana Olander – 6; Kate Ellwood – 3; Evie Look – 3.

3-Pointers Made: Eck, Stephenson, Look – 1.

Assists: Eck – 4; Stephenson – 2; H. Olander, Look, Adelynne Strecker – 1.

Rebounds: A. Olander – 10; Eck – 8; H. Olander – 5; Stephenson, Kami Grasser – 3; Look, Strecker – 2.

Steals: Eck – 4; Ellwood, Strecker – 3; A. Olander, Stephenson, H. Olander – 1.

Blocked Shots: A. Olander, H. Olander – 1.

 (The Staff covering McPherson County Activities can be reached by email at crossdovewriter@gmail.com)